A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VEDDAH PEOPLE OF SRI LANKA

The Vedda are   a  minority   indigenous   group   of   people   in Sri   Lanka who,   among   other   self-identified   native communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Veddas, are accorded indigenous status. The Veddah minority in Sri Lanka is in threat of becoming extinct. Most speak Sinhala instead of their indigenous languages which are nearing extinction.

It has been hypothesized that the Vedda were probably the earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka and have a direct line to the stone age man.

The original language of the Vedda’s is the Veddah language, which today is used primarily by the interior Veddas of Dambana.  Communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas,  who do not  identify themselves strictly as Veddas, also use Vedda language for communication during hunting and or for religious chants. When a systematic field study was conducted in 1959 it was determined that the language was confined to the older generation of Veddas from Dambana. In the 1990s, self-identifying Veddas knew few words and phrases in the Vedda   language,   but   there  were   individuals  who   knew   the   language   comprehensively.   Initially,   there  was considerable  debate among linguists as to whether Vedda  is  a  dialect  of Sinhala or an  independent  language. Later studies indicate that it diverged from its parent stock in the 10th century and became a Creole and a stable independent language by the 13th century, under the influence of Sinhala.

Veddas were originally hunter-gatherers. They used bows and arrows to hunt game, harpoons and toxic plants for fishing and gathered wild plants, yams, honey, fruit and nuts. Veddas are famously known for their rich meat diet. Venison and the flesh of rabbit, turtle, tortoise, monitor lizard, wild boar and the common brown monkey are consumed with much relish. The Veddas kill only for food and do not harm young or pregnant animals. Game is commonly shared amongst the family and clan. 

       

Some observers have said Veddas are disappearing and have lamented the decline of their distinct culture. Land acquisition for mass irrigation projects, government forest reserve restrictions, and the civil war have disrupted traditional Vedda ways of life. Between 1977 and 1983 under the Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project and colonization schemes, approximately 51,468 hectares were turned into a gigantic hydroelectric dam irrigation project. Subsequently,   the creation of the Maduru Oya National Park deprived the Veddhas their   last hunting grounds. In 1985, the Veddha Chief Thissahamy and his delegation were obstructed from attending the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Dr. Wiveca Stegeborn, an anthropologist, has been studying the Vedda since 1977 and alleges that their young women are being tricked into accepting contracts to the Middle East as domestic workers when in fact they will be trafficked into prostitution or sold as sex slaves. 

Cultural assimilation of Veddas with other local populations has been going on for a long time. "Vedda" has been used in Sri Lanka to mean not only hunter-gatherers but also to refer to any people who adopt an unsettled and rural way of life and thus can be a derogatory term not based on ethnic group. 

THE DAMBANA VEDDA SCHOOL (KANISTA VIDALAYA)

The Dambana school is a provincial school situated within the Vedda reserve. 95% of the students attending the school come from the Vedda village. The school has a student population of 170.

Education   in   Sri   Lanka   currently   falls   under   the   control   of   both   the Central  Government and   the Provincial Councils,   with   some   responsibilities   lying  with   the   Central   Government   and   the   Provincial   Council   having autonomy for others.

Government schools

Most  of   the   schools   in  Sri   Lanka  are  maintained  by   the  government  as  a  part  of   free  education.  With   the establishment of a provincial council system in the 1980s, the central government handed control of most schools to local governments. However, the old schools which have been around since colonial times were retained by the central government, thus creating three types of government schools;

National Schools

Provincial Schools

Pirivenas-Schools for Buddhist priests

National schools

National schools come under the direct control of the Ministry of Education and therefore have direct funding from   the  ministry.  Most   of   these   schools   were   established   during   the   colonial   period   and   therefore   are established institutions. These few are referred to as ‘famous’ or ‘elite’ schools since they have a rich history and better maintained facilities than the average public school. 

Provincial schools

Provincial   Schools consists  of   the   vast  majority  of   schools   in   Sri   Lanka.   Funded  and   controlled  by   the   local governments, many suffer from poor facilities and a shortage of teachers.

The following is an article from the ‘Daily News’ newspaper in Sri Lanka dated 09.08.2006.

In Dambana, it pays to teach without pay

SERVICE: The Adivasi (Vedda) children, except for a handful do not show great interest in education. They too, do not attend school regularly.

Most of them come to school on an empty stomach, said Delsy Warusamana and Chandrani, the two volunteer teachers at Dambana Kanishta Vidyalaya. The two young teachers, wearing beautiful sarees, have been teaching at Dambana Kanishta Vidyalaya for the past two years as volunteers.

According to them, their dedicated service has not been paid for by the education authorities. Yet they showed a lot of enthusiasm towards their service. They spoke emotionally about the plight of the Adivasi children's education.

The two teachers said the Dambana Kanishta Vidyalaya has a student population of about 230 and 60-70 per cent of the students are Adivasi children.

They said though the school needs 14 teachers, the staff is only about eight. The scarcity of teachers has compelled them to teach almost every subject. The Adivasi children due to poverty are suffering from malnutrition and constantly fall sick, the duo said.

"They regularly keep away from school and some of them prefer begging from visitors to schooling and luring them back to school is somewhat impossible," said Warusamana.

The two teachers said only a handful study seriously and pursue higher studies. They also said the existing educational set-up and the school syllabus which compels the Adivasi children to study in Sinhalese is not fair.

Also, the school timetable does not have a special period for them to learn their mother tongue.

With bare minimum facilities, these two volunteer teachers are doing a great service to the Adivasi children. Their service is worthy of emulation.

I have been visiting the Vedda village since 2012 as part of a culinary and cultural tour that I conduct on the island. During this period, I have had conversations with the Chief of the Vedda people and his son and learned of the plight of the Vedda school.

Together with the Rotary clubs of Badulla, Colombo, and our own branch, Rotary eClub 9790 we are hoping to improve the educational opportunities for these Vedda children.

To date the Rotary eClub 9790 and the Badulla Rotary club have undertaken and completed the following projects at the school:

Provided uniforms for the school volleyball  team who previously had none. This  is to  improve school 

attendance.

Provided and installed a multi-function laser printer to enable teachers to photocopy worksheets. This 

helps to alleviate the problem of extremely limited teaching resources.

Through the instigation of both clubs we have initiated a project that utilises the help of parents and the 

school community to repair boundary fences.

                                          

Proposed projects to be undertaken at the school;

Install a tube well and pump. (the school currently has no running water on site. Children have to go out 

on the road to access a government installed water pump.

Purchase 50 extra tables and chairs (there are 170 students sharing 120 tables and chairs).

Update the one existing toilet block as a male only toilet and provide running water to it.

Build a separate female toilet block with appropriate facilities (girls often stay home monthly due to a lack 

of adequate facilities).

Update the electrical wiring.

Update teaching resources.

Paint the interior and exterior of the buildings.

Update staff facilities.

Update the playground facilities.

Below – Provincially funded Dambana Vedda school buildings and toilets.

    

Below – Centrally funded government school in Badulla, buildings and toilets for comparison purposes.